Wingnuts Launch Campaign Against Dan Savage Over Comments On Christianity

Yesterday many of the most widely read anti-gay sites in the nation launched a campaign against Dan Savage over comments he made two weeks ago during a speech before the National High School Journalism Conference. After Savage, with his usual frankness, pointed out the hypocrisy with which hate groups cherry-pick anti-gay quotes from the Bible, some of the students got up and walked out on his presentation, prompting Savage to label them as "pansy-ass" for being unwilling to hear out his critique. Here is the bit that has anti-gay groups so furious.

If you watched the clip, you'll likely agree that Savage has said pretty much the same thing on national television. The audience certainly knew what what to expect. So it was not by coincidence, I believe, that some of those "offended" students got up and ran directly to Focus Of The Family, which ten days ago was the first to issue an "outraged" press release on this non-story. Note that their article just happened to come out on the very morning of their anti-Day Of Silence event.

Using profanity to deride the Bible—and then mocking the Christian students after they left the room—is obviously a form of bullying and name-calling. This illustrates perfectly what we’ve been saying all along: Too many times in the name of “tolerance,” Christian students find their faith being openly mocked and belittled in educational environments. Incidents like this one stand in stark contrast to the principles we’ve continually espoused on our Web sites, truetolerance.org and dayofdialogue.com, which call for a free exchange of ideas and respect for different viewpoints, including those that are faith-based and socially conservative.

Also not by coincidence, yesterday this two week old nothing burger was suddenly all over the anti-gay blogosphere even though the event's organizers told the Christian media that Savage delivered exactly the sort of presentation that they had expected him to.

Part of the hypocrisy of the "anti-bullying" movement is that the concept of bullying is never defined in a meaningful way. Evidently, bullying is one of those things that is defined by the "victim." Hence, we have the spectacle of the man who created the video "It Gets Better" can speak against the bullying of gay kids, but then turn around and bully kids with Christian beliefs - and get away with it. Mr. Savage proves himself unworthy of being any kind of leader in an anti-bullying crusade. But his rant reveals how such a movement can stifle free speech and make a bully out of an anti-bullying icon.

The Obama Administration has placed significant support behind the so-called It Gets Better Project. There’s only one problem: the organization is headed by one Dan Savage. But there’s much more to Dan Savage than just anti-religious bullying. He’s one of the biggest bullies on the planet. And he’s the point person the White House specifically chose – and fundraised for – in order to push their anti-bullying agenda. Now, it’s not as though the White House was ignorant of the fact that the It Gets Better Project is run by Savage. On the contrary – search the White House website for Savage’s name, and two It Gets Better links come up.

While much of his audience walked out on him, Savage continued the Christian-bashing by lamenting the fact that the Apostle Paul didn’t tell a Christian slave owner “not” to own slaves, just “how” to own them. While proclaiming that the Word of God is flawed on issues of slavery, and “got it wrong” on “the easiest moral question humanity has ever faced”, he assured his audience that the Bible is also 100 percent wrong on human sexuality and alluded to the retreating students as “pansy a–es.” As WND has previously reported, Dan Savage is widely known as a radical, homosexual activist, who created a obscene site that redefines Rick Santorum’s last name as the byproduct of anal sex.

And of course, the quislings at GOProud could not resist this opportunity to suckle the pendulous teats of their anti-gay masters.

Dan Savage’s outrageous anti-Christian tirade hurts – not helps – the fight for gay rights in this country,” said Jimmy LaSalvia, GOProud Executive Director. “There is nothing incompatible between being a Christian and believing that all people should be treated equally, and Dan Savage’s attacks on Christianity only fuel those on the extremist fringe who oppose gay rights.” “Dan Savage should apologize for his comments and should apologize to the high school students in attendance who he called ‘pansy-asses,’” continued LaSalvia. “It is ironic that someone whose claim to fame is fighting bullying would resort to bullying tactics in attacking high school students who were offended by his outrageous remarks.”

GOProud's press release was instantly picked up by Fox News. This morning Savage issued an apology for using the expression "pansy-ass" in his speech, but he stuck by his critique of Christianity.

I would like to apologize for describing that walk out as a pansy-assed move. I wasn't calling the handful of students who left pansies (2800+ students, most of them Christian, stayed and listened), just the walk-out itself. But that's a distinction without a difference—kinda like when religious conservatives tells their gay friends that they "love the sinner, hate the sin." They're often shocked when their gay friends get upset because, hey, they were making a distinction between the person (lovable!) and the person's actions (not so much!). But gay people feel insulted by "love the sinner, hate the sin" because it is insulting. Likewise, my use of "pansy-assed" was insulting, it was name-calling, and it was wrong. And I apologize for saying it.